Information Technology Professionals Give Back to Local Nonprofits

May 16, 2017

This is Colin – an HCA web technologist and philanthropist. Colin hurt his ankle the day before our organization’s first-ever Information Technology (IT) Community Day, but he and his team employed their technical savvy to virtually include Colin in the important work of the day via webcast.

Colin was working from a distance, but 179 of his closest friends and HCA technology colleagues were placed at 22 nonprofit agencies in the Nashville area last week, providing a total of 1,080 hours of skills-based, technological community service. On that day, you would find no dirty nails or paint in the hair, but instead impactful accomplishments and connections as some of HCA’s best and brightest health IT professionals assisted local nonprofit agency personnel with technology problems that hinder their good work.

Numerous IT skills represented

Information Technology (IT) professionals from every corner of HCA participated in the first-ever IT Community Day on Tuesday, May 9. The idea, which was born in January by the organization’s Information Technology and Services (IT&S) leadership team, assembled 180 volunteers for outreach work at nonprofit agencies in Nashville.

“IT Community Day was an easy way to get involved in our community and provide a skillset to people who can really use the help,” said Logan Hartline, an HCA IT&S web designer who served at Safe Haven Family Shelter. “It allowed us to get out of our cubes, roll up our sleeves, and jump into making Nashville a better place.”

HCA techies helped train nonprofit personnel on Microsoft Office tools, address desktop questions and concerns, strengthen their network security and developed other innovative technology ideas that would support the agencies’ charitable work in the community.

“There is a constant need for technical assistance for nonprofits, so helping them was such an honor,” said Michael Scruggs, an HCA application engineer. Scruggs worked with the Adventure Science Center whose mission is to ignite curiosity and spark an interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) among the youth in the community.

Not Done Yet

Some HCA teams discovered opportunities to assist after the IT Community Day and have made plans to return to their agency to finish the job. For example, HCA Chief Technologist Paul Currie said: “The Tennessee Kidney Foundation needs a new network, so we’re going back to replace it. Anything we can do to help this cause, we are happy to.”

Jeff Crump, a process engineer at HCA also reported that his team ran out of time at Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee, but the full functionality of their project should see the organization well into the future.

The Greatest Rewards

When asked to recount some of their best memories of the experience, most of the HCA community servants had the same response – the excitement seen on the faces of those they assisted. The nonprofit agencies aren’t the only ones who reaped the benefits of IT Community Day, HCA employees did, too.

“We are human and get busy in our lives and it’s easy to forget the things that are important. IT Community Day rejuvenated my spirit and reminded me why I love my job. I appreciated the opportunity to serve an organization as deserving as the Tennessee Kidney Foundation,” said Deborah Long, who served as a development leader.

“Realizing the potential we have to accomplish something meaningful in just one day of volunteering is something that will stick with me long after ITCD,” seconded HCA System Administrator Jesse Barton, who volunteered at the National Health Care for the Homeless Council.

Special thanks to all the Nashville-area nonprofit agencies who trusted HCA IT teams to meet their technology needs during our first-ever IT Community Day. Thank you for all of the work you do in our community. It was an honor to serve you!